September
September 8th
We experienced a flash of extreme heat on Saturday August 30th. Unusually, St. Helena was the hotspot of Napa and Sonoma County at 106. It was hotter in Napa than in Sacramento. It cooled down a bit early in the week and then heated up moderately to 100 degrees on Wednesday and Thursday. Next week should be in the mid-eighties to low nineties with little morning fog. It has been uncharacteristically hot in Santa Maria and this has affected our Santa Barbara County Pinot Noir as you will see below.
The heat brought on a jump in maturity and has taken us right to the brink with the Bordeaux red varieties. We will begin crushing at Twomey Calistoga on Monday with Merlot from our Soda Canyon Ranch.
We had a busy week at Twomey West, also referred to as Twomey Healdsburg. Ben flew down to Santa Maria and was able to taste all our blocks and determine that in the 95 degree heat (75 was predicted), it was best to pick everything. All of our blocks in Bien Nacido were picked starting at 2:00 am and were trucked up to Healdsburg in a refrigerated truck. We also finished crushing the Sauvignon Blanc for the season. We finished picking Westpin vineyard for the season and started crushing fruit from Petaluma. Next week should be busy as well.
They call it Labor Day because we get to crush grapes. I always say crush is like childbirth. I feel those contractions getting closer together.
September 11th
There was very little fog this week and the daily high temperatures rose each day so that we started out with temperatures in the low to mid eighties early in the week and ended up with 100 to 102 on Friday. Forecasts are for it to cool through the weekend and be mild next week. Finally Cloverdale was hotter than St. Helena, so natural order must be returning. The vineyards (and vineyardists) are responding well to this weather pattern and we are seeing slow ripening and a good range of maturities so that we can stage our harvest over a few weeks. We vastly prefer this over a compressed harvest.
We began the harvest season in Napa County with Merlot at Twomey Calistoga on Monday September 7. We brought in 4 different lots from our Soda Canyon Ranch. The Merlot is noticeably dark this year and the young fermentors are extremely aromatic. We will continue with more Merlot next week.
We had another busy week at Twomey West. We brought in fruit from 4 Sonoma Coast vineyards and one Anderson Valley vineyard. I’m not quite sure where Ben is stuffing it all, but suffice it to say, the tank room is full. Fortunately, the first of the Westpin tanks is ready to press, so we will have some room for more fruit from Sonoma Coast and our last block from Bien Nacido. It’s Nick’s turn to make the trip down this weekend to taste and sample.
On this day of mourning, it is good to remember that the cycles of nature continue and renewal occurs even amidst our losses. Let’s raise our glass tonight to remember those that perished. We’ll do our best to create something worthy of filling those glasses.
September 18th
What an interesting week this has been. Sunday was overcast and drizzly and there was lightning and thunder throughout the area. A car was struck by lightning in San Francisco and caught fire! Monday was overcast and we had a little drizzle, but by late afternoon the sky was clearing and it warmed to close to eighty in most parts of the north bay region. Rainfall amounts were less than a tenth of an inch in most places although one of our Pinot growers in Annapolis received 4 tenths of an inch. Temperatures steadily warmed the rest of the week, until we reached highs around 100 on Friday. It is forecasted to cool a little over the weekend and then get really hot for the beginning of next week and then cool slightly by mid-week.
The only result of the weekend drizzle was that the dust was washed off the leaves and the grapes were allowed to rehydrate after the moderate heat of the last Thursday and Friday. It also meant we got to regroup for a few days because after the berries are wet and absorb water, it takes a minimum of 48 hours for them to shed the water and get back into equilibrium.
We resumed picking on Thursday in Napa County with Merlot from our Soda Canyon Ranch. Next week we expect to bring in more.
In Twomey Calistoga, we crushed two blocks of Soda Canyon Merlot. We will carry on with more Merlot next week.
At Twomey West, we had a quiet week of crushing with one lot of Sonoma Coast Pinot and one lot from Santa Maria, but we made up with it by pressing most of the Westpin tanks. Next week will be very busy with Sonoma Coast and Anderson Valley growers.
We had a breather this week, but we anticipate that next week will be very intense. It will be good to get all our cellars working at full capacity.
September 25th
It was supposed to get really hot this week – like 105 for 3 days. Fortunately that didn’t happen, but it got plenty hot – high nineties in most places for three days and 105 and 106 in Calistoga and Cloverdale respectively on Tuesday. By Thursday the fog was in for a couple of days but it is forecasted to get hot again on Saturday and Sunday and then cool down quite a bit on Monday and Tuesday of next week. The mountain vineyards on the top of Atlas Peak were crazy this week: it was 90 degrees by 8:30 in the morning while the valley floor was in the low sixties. The cool nights were refreshing and saved the grapes from raisining and shrivel.
Maturities jumped up with the warm weather and we not only saw sugars go up and acids drop, but skins soften and concentration increase. Next week we expect to bring in the rest of the Merlot
In Twomey Calistoga, we crushed three more blocks of Soda Canyon Merlot. We pressed the first tanks and are extremely impressed with the intensity of the Merlot from this vintage. We hope to crush the last of the Merlot and move on to Cabernet Franc next week.
At Twomey West, we had a wild week of crushing Anderson Valley and Sonoma Coast Pinot while we pressed Sonoma Coast and Santa Maria tanks and pumped the 2008 Russian River out of barrel and blended it. Highly entertaining to watch Ben coordinate his troups. Morale is high and the wines are varied, unique and wonderful. Next week will be a quiet one of pressing and, hopefully, crushing of the last grower from Watsonville.
I thought this week was going to be intense and I was right. At this point the spirit in the cellars is – “Bring it on!!”
October 2ndWhat a week. It went from highs over 100 on Sunday to heavy clouds on Monday, highs in the low 70’s on Tuesday and then gradual warming. The vines seemed to like it, breathing a sigh of relief and continuing to ripen fruit. The softening of the berries, smoothing of tannins and development of flavors progressed well even if sugars leveled off or dropped. I continue to be impressed with the sophistication of the growers and their coordination with us to manage their irrigations so that we can harvest the fruit at ideal maturity.
In Twomey Calistoga, we crushed the last block of Soda Canyon Merlot and a block of Cabernet Franc. We pressed all week as tanks achieved dryness and the tannins smoothed out. We should pick the last of the Cabernet Franc to complete harvest next week.
At Twomey West, we continued to press Pinot Noir from Sonoma Coast and Santa Maria appellations. We regrettably decided that our grower from Watsonville did not make the cut this year. His fruit was not ripening to our specifications and we decided that it was better to cut him loose so he could find another home for the grapes. We did this with great reluctance, but it was necessary to preserve our standards of quality. This means we are done crushing Pinot for the season.
Another week of intense activity, but it feels like we have made it through the most demanding part of crush and should have smooth sailing from here.
~Daniel Baron